Nov 22, 2013

Epic Fantasy combines with Young Adult romance in this stunning new adventure set in a richly developed medieval world.

When Emariya Warren learns enemy forces have captured her father, she’ll do anything to save him. Anything. Even marry a mysterious prince she knows nothing about in order to rally the strength to arrange a rescue. During her journey to Torian’s foreign castle, Emariya comes face to face with her mother’s killers–and a deadly secret.
Not only does Emariya possess a powerful but unexpected magical gift passed down through each of her families, the prince she’s promised to marry possesses a third, and an ominous prophecy has warned the three gifts must never be combined.
If she breaks her promise to marry Torian, she won’t be able to save her father and if she keeps it, she may bring a curse upon everything she holds dear. Determining which choice is best won’t be easy, but when she meets the gorgeous prince who may desire more than just her heart, she realizes she will have to fight just to have a choice at all.
Her heart wants him desperately. Her head begs her to run. If she doesn’t want to share her mother’s fate, she’ll have to find a way to untangle the truth from the lies in time to save herself.

About Kelly Walker

Kelly Walker is a YA and NA author of several romantic titles, including the Souls of the Stones series. She has an unhealthy appreciation for chocolate, and a soft spot for rescued animals. Her best lessons on writing came from a lifetime of reading. She loves the fantastical, and the magical, and believes a captivating romance can be the most realistic magic of all. Kelly, her husband and her two children share their Virginia home with three dogs who walk her, and two cats who permit her to occasionally share their couch.

Nov 21, 2013

Welcome to
Cover2CoverBlog Pete and thank you for joining us. First could you tell us a little
about yourself?

Well, I’m known in different fields for different things. Primarily I’m
an editor and journalist who specializes in music and gardening. I’ve written both fiction and non-fiction
books, including THIMBLE DOWN and a series of instructional titles about
guitars. I’m also a musician and recording artist—my Guitar Garden albums are
available on CDBaby.com and iTunes. I live in Pennsylvania with my
wife and six children.

What was your
inspiration for Thimble Down?

It was a combination of my love of classic English mysteries and Young
Adult adventures. If you want to look for specific authors and books, I’d steer
you towards the work of Charles Dickens, Agatha Christie (especially her Miss
Marple books), M.C. Beaton’s Hamish MacBeth series, JRR Tolkien, and a love of
horticulture, nature, food, and landscape painting. People have said to me,
“Y’know, there’s a lot of food in Thimble
Down.”

Which came first – the story or the
characters?

I came up
with a basic framework for Dorro and the village of Thimble Down first, and
then I came up with a plot. The actual story and characters then evolved at the
same time—I invent as I write and my writing process is relatively fast.
Strangely, the faster I write, the better the story gets. I think that’s
because I’m not overthinking it. It’s fresher and more spontaneous.

What is your favorite
part about the writing process? Do you have a special writing spot?

My favorite part is finishing off a particularly good chapter—that’s very
satisfying, especially when you know you developed a clever plot twist. And I
write all over the place: indoors, outdoors, morning, afternoon, and sometimes
night (though I’m not much of a nightbird). Favorite writing spots include
scenic parks and my local public library, but I can go anywhere with my laptop
and knock out a chapter or two.

Is there anything
about you that would surprise your readers?

Probably my extensive guitar background—I’m far better known for my
guitar writing than for anything I’ve done so far. I’ve interviewed hundreds of
famous and brilliant guitarists over the years, from Eddie Van Halen to Scotty
Moore, who was Elvis Presley’s guitar player.

If you could spend
time with any author, who would it be and why?

Good question! First, I’d say Agatha Christie to learn more about how she
came up with so many clever plotlines, and P.G. Wodehouse, just because his Jeeves & Wooster books are so
hysterically funny. There are definitely touches of Jeeves & Wooster throughout
Thimble Down and the forthcoming
books in the series.

What do you have
planned next? Are you working on anything currently?

The next book in the “Chronicles of Dorro” series (the
sequel to Thimble Down) is completed
and will be ready for publication early in 2014. And I’m almost done with the
third book. I have enough material for quite a few more books right now.

What are you reading
right now? Do you have any book recommendations for the young adult reader?

I’m just revisited one of the Redwall books because I love
Brian Jacques’ endlessly creative and witty dialogue. As for recommendations, I
would recommend the Artemis Fowl books—always fun—and Linda Buckley-Archer’s The Time Travelers book, as least the
first on in the series. And read one of the true classics, like The Wind in the Willows. It’s a magical
book that never gets stale.

Nov 20, 2013

Diary of a Dancing
Drama Queen (The Secret Ramblings of Harriet Hughes #1) by Louise Lintvelt

Harriet Hughes is not your typical 12 year old girl. She
does not like pink and she is not what you would call breathtakingly beautiful.
Harriet considers herself decidedly average; her sister Abigail on the other
hand is very pretty and good at everything. Join Harriet as she makes her
way through middle school. In diary of a dancing drama queen Harriet has to
face the embarrassment of a dance class after her mother enrols her and her
sister at Madam Zangara’s School of Dance. She is not exactly the best dancer
in the world and when the most popular girl in school, Melanie joins the dance
class, it marks the start of a fun filled adventure that includes a birthday
party, a talent show and a school dance. Will she get asked to the dance by her
biggest crush, Oliver Russel? Harriet writes about family, friends, school and
boys in a fresh, young voice and the sketches in her diary (secret ramblings)
add a touch of whimsy. This funny book is sure to be a hit with 8-12 year old
girls.

Find the book: Goodreads | Amazon

Add Louise on Goodreads!

This book made me laugh out loud many times. Harriet's attitude and explanations of her life and the people around her are amazingly full of drama and quirkiness. I loved her character. She is strong and opinionated but also realizes when she should give in to others to do the right thing. The book was only about 60 pages or so (PDF format) and includes sketches from ' Harriet' that are just as entertaining as the story itself. I felt that any young girls would love to read this book.

Harriet has a great relationship with her family and friends and even makes new friends through the story, ones that are not expected. I have to admit I was waiting for these girls to turn on one another but to my surprise it never happened. It was a lovely and easy read!

Other Books in the series:

Diary of a Pop
Sensation (The Secret Ramblings of Harriet Hughes #2) by Louise Lintvelt

Harriet is whisked off to New York with her best friends to
take part in a talent competition. Harriet has to focus on winning the talent
competition while trying to deal with the aftermath of the school dance where
she was humiliated by her crush Oliver Russel. Join the Daisies as they
experience New York for the first time, navigate the twists and turns of the
Tween Talent competition and take on the Trendy Triplets. This second book in
the Harriet Hughes series is funny, imaginative and entertaining; the perfect
read for tween girls.

The Samantha Project (The Samantha Project Series #1)
Seventeen-year-old Samantha has a seemingly perfect life; great parents,
early admission to Stanford, and her boyfriend, Colin, quarterback of
the football team and the hottest guy in school. But a shocking secret
from her past turns her world upside down.
Sam discovers she’s part of a global corporation’s genetic
enhancement project. Just as she’s learning what these enhanced genes
can do, the corporation decides they want her, and the technology hidden
inside her, back.
During a heart-pounding race to flee from her pursuers, she
encounters Erik, another person who was part of the experimental
project. From the instant they meet they share an indescribable
attraction to each other. Together they’re in even greater danger and a
rogue scientist discovers a deadly secret lies inside them.

The Golden Couple (The Samantha Project Series #2)
In this action-packed second installment of The Samantha Project series,
Samantha and Erik go on a search to find a way to save themselves from
the genetic time bomb ticking away in their cells. Along the way, they
discover a shocking secret that changes everything.
Although Samantha’s boyfriend, Colin, is back now, she can’t deny her
feelings for Erik. It isn’t long before she learns the real reason why
she can’t resist Erik. But only after she’s gone too far with him. So
far that Colin may never forgive her.
GlobalLife Genetics continues to pursue Samantha and they’ll stop at
nothing to get her. Sam still doesn’t understand GlobalLife’s plan for
her but she knows it’s something big. And she knows it isn’t good.

A Chosen Destiny (The Samantha Project Series #3)
Samantha’s destiny was chosen long ago. At least that’s what she’s told
by the people who created her. Her enhanced genes and genetic software
were meant to do everything from mold her personality to pick who she
falls in love with.
But can destiny be changed? Ever since Samantha learned the truth
about herself, she’s struggled to figure out who’s really in charge of
her life. Can she make her own choices? Or is her future determined by
her genes?
Old enemies reappear and new ones emerge as Samantha and Erik use
their powers to fight the people who are after them. But it’s getting
harder to figure out who’s good and who’s evil. The enemy they’ve been
fighting may not be the one who’s truly after them.

After
spending years at a publishing company working on other people’s books,
Stephanie left the corporate world to write her own books. Although her
day job is freelance writing for magazines, she spends the rest of her
time writing fiction. The idea for The Samantha Project came from a
dream she had of a teen girl being held in a lab. She couldn't stop
thinking about the dream, so she turned that one scene into a much
larger story that ended up being a trilogy. Stephanie also writes New
Adult romance under a different name. When she's not writing,
she's reading, cooking, running or watching movies.

A Chinese satellite is on a crash course with Earth. It contains enough plutonium to irradiate a large city. And that's the good news... Michael
Chase is a twenty-six year old backpacker, a recent college graduate,
an amateur. He flew to Hong Kong to find his missing father. Four hours
later, he's running for his life. The Chinese Secret Police want him
dead. The Conspiracy wants him dead. And the one person who he thinks is
on his side, may want him dead too. If Michael is going to live, he'll
need to find a hidden piece of Nazi technology lost since World War II.
And he'll have to do it before anyone else. Because if he doesn't, a
little plutonium is going to be the least of his problems.Can
Michael Chase team up with a beautiful but deadly MI6 agent to locate a
lethal piece of Nazi technology that will save the world? If
you can't get enough of the action of Lee Child and Vince Flynn, the
intrigue of Robert Ludlum, and the adventure of Clive Cussler and James
Rollins, you are going to LOVE Lethal Circuit!

Lethal Circuit is not my normal read/ listen, as an adult
genre, mystery, suspense, but I opted to take a listen for the wonderful
Candace. The plot starts off strong with action immediately. The main character
is in search of his father who he believes was murdered. I enjoyed this fast
paced plot very much but the reader was a bit off-putting. The track volumes
seem to change in the chapters and not just the reader’s tone, but the actual
volume. On second he is speaking and the next he seems to be projecting at
almost a yell. This made it difficult to concentrate on the plot itself at
times, I found myself focusing on how annoying it was.

The author is very good at conveying the various landscapes
and cities that are mentioned throughout the book. The storytelling of foreign
countries seems to be his specialty (I have also listened to his Middle Grade
book set in India). The twists and turns in the plot keep the reader/ listener
on their toes and keep the story at great pace. You just want to keep
listening.

I cannot say much more without spoilers so I will leave it
at that. Overall impressions: I did enjoy the story very much, but the
audiobook reader was annoying at times with his tone, and the production was
off-putting with volume levels.

3 ebooks and 3 audiobooks of Lethal Circuit (INT)

a Rafflecopter giveawayAbout the AuthorLars
Guignard is a former film and television writer and a graduate of both
McGill University and the American Film Institute in Los Angeles. His
debut thriller novel, Lethal Circuit, has beenan amazon top 100 Technothriller since its release.Guignard has wanted to write Indian stories for kids ever since he
attended a boarding school in the majestic Himalayas. The time he spent
in the “school above the clouds” affected himprofoundly, and once he returned home to North America he was struck
by the lack of children’s stories from India available in our culture.
Since India is such an incredible country, he decidedto write a series of action adventure books for young adults about
India to introduce young readers to this magical, mystical land. So if
you’re looking for a great book adventure for kids, try Ghost Leopard
today!

Nov 15, 2013

Today is a joint cover reveal of three authors from Glass House Press, PT. McHugh, Linda Foster and Mary Fan.

About the Book:
Reis Slayton is a man without a home, family, or direction until the US military comes along. But the moment he joins, his ‘talents’ come to the attention of those higher than him – he has a sharp eye, and a willingness to shoot first and ask questions later. His deadly skills are finely tuned … and used.
But this isn’t what Reis wanted to be. Years later, after too many undercover operations, and countless lives taken, he finds himself questioning his direction. Does he believe in the government? Does he agree with his assignments? Or is he wasting his life – and conscience – on someone else’s goal?
With that thought in mind, Reis takes a leap and interviews for a new company, where he’s given the role of body guard. Against his better judgment, he takes a job that no one else wants – guarding the daughter of a wealthy family – and grudgingly moves into a new life. Soon after taking a job, he realizes that he might have found the one thing he’s never had: a family, and someone to fight for. He grows to love his new charge, and begins to feel fulfilled for the first time in his life.
But no matter how hard people try, they cannot escape the sins of their past. Will Reis be able to leave the life of an assassin behind him, and protect his new charge? Or will his history come back to haunt him, in the worst ways imaginable?

About PT McHugh

PT McHugh didn't start out as a storyteller. He was, however, born into a family of that encouraged imagination. He became a fan of history in school and then went to college to become a construction engineer, to build a world of straight lines, angles, and equations.
He was just as surprised as everyone else when he realized that he believed in magic, and might just know the secret of how to jump through time. Since then, he's been researching the possibility and learning everything he can about history. Just in case the opportunity arises.
PT was born and raised in New Hampshire and currently lives in Raleigh, North Carolina with his wife, two daughters, and a dog named Bob, daring to dream of alternate worlds and cheering for his beloved New England Patriots.

Nov 14, 2013

About the Book
New school. New friends. New reputation. High school sophomore Ainslie Avalon-Bennett works hard to hide her Crazy Girl past. But as long as her best friend’s disappearance remains unsolved, she can’t shake the depression and obsessive-compulsive disorder that once landed her in a mental ward.
Ainslie’s tenuous control over her life shatters when her warring parents ditch her at Christmas. While they take a cruise to “work things out,” Ainslie must spend the holiday in Palm Springs with her aunt and uncle, owners of a struggling Mystery School and occult store. Plunged into the world of fire fortunes, dragons, entity eaters, and an ailing spell book, Ainslie is well beyond her comfort zone. Then she meets a boy who spikes her pulse and calms her OCD. But will she lose him once he discovers her past? Or will his deadly secret, hidden in plain view, be their undoing?

My body elongated, and I swore I grew six inches. Inside the cafe, there was no line. Another miracle. I paused beneath the fern‑painted ceiling fan and scanned the wall menu. I wasn't sure what I was looking for, but a weird craving fueled my search.
The dragon exerted pressure between my shoulder blades, prompting me. "A Scorpion's Nest smoothie."
Morningstar leaned over the high counter and gave me a once‐over. "You feeling okay?"
I licked my lips. "Absolutely." I had never tasted an orange juice, vanilla ice cream, and peanut butter combo, but I slapped the countertop and said, "I'm fine. Hit me."
Morningstar tilted her head to one side and studied me.
Oh — crap. Maybe I'm dragon drunk.
I wiped the drool from the corner of my mouth stood straighter. I could do this. I could act normal and in control. Behind me, the dragon blew on my hair. I clawed back the stray locks. "Strong ceiling fan."
Morningstar glanced up. I held my gaze steady on her face and tried to remember if the fan was actually on. I couldn't hear the whir of its motor or feel the stir of cool air. I can't feel anything. I went for distraction and slipped a ten across the counter.
Morningstar leveled her gaze, then handed me my change. "I'll bring the smoothie to your table."
"Cool." My eyes crossed. I pivoted and fell out of my right flip‐‑flop. Fortunately, the place was almost empty, and I didn't think anyone saw me stumble. Still, my face heated as I chose a table with plenty of space behind it for the dragon and my invisible wings.
"Mind if I join you for a minute?" Morningstar asked when she brought my drink.
"Please." I giggled, giddy with dragon energy. I was a bright, beneficent angel among earthlings. I was — as crazy as my parents feared.

$50 Amazon Gift Card or Paypal Cash
Ends 12/20/13
Open only to those who can legally enter, receive and use an Amazon.com Gift Code or Paypal Cash. Winning Entry will be verified prior to prize being awarded. No purchase necessary. You must be 18 or older to enter or have your parent enter for you. The winner will be chosen by rafflecopter and announced here as well as emailed and will have 48 hours to respond or a new winner will be chosen. This giveaway is in no way associated with Facebook, Twitter, Rafflecopter or any other entity unless otherwise specified. The number of eligible entries received determines the odds of winning. Giveaway was organized by Kathy from I Am A Reader, Not A Writer http://iamareader.com and sponsored by the authors. VOID WHERE PROHIBITED BY LAW.
a Rafflecopter giveaway

Author Ariella Moon
Ariella Moon writes about magic, friendship, secrets, and love in her Young Adult novels, Spell Check, Spell Struck, and Spell Fire, Books 1, 2, & 3 in The Teen Wytche Saga. Ariella
spent her childhood searching for a magical wardrobe that would
transport her to Narnia. Extreme math anxiety, and taller students who
mistook her for a leaning post, marred Ariella’s teen years. Despite
these horrors, she graduated summa cum laude from the University of
California at Davis. An author and shaman,she now lives a nearly normal life with her extraordinary daughter, shamelessly spoiled dog, and an enormous dragon.

Follow by Email

About:

Stephanie (aka Gorelenore) works full time for a university and in her spare time reads...A LOT! She lives with her husband, her dog Rolo, her cat Cooper, and 2 bearded dragons in the Green Mountain State of Vermont.

Disclaimer

In compliance with FTC guidelines, advanced copies were provided by authors and publishers in exchange for honest review purposes, no monetary compensation is exchanged. Book images obtained from online sources are cited or from Goodreads.

Images of book covers, tour buttons, author photos, and giveaway hop buttons have been given by the author or publishers for promotional purposes. Other images being used on the blog have been designed or paid for (unless otherwise noted) and are under no circumstances to be used without prior permissions.